Here's my take. Some of you out there (including this writer and vlogger) have the artist aspiration. You have been told by the very few who made it to believe in yourself and never give up. Well the simply fact is the arts are very different than any other profession. Because usually--someone else has to let you in. Now what I would tell you if you are 18 or 40 and feel that your destiny is in the arts? I would not tell you to just stay the "safe route" and give up on your dreams. I would tell you to pursue the artist aspiration smartly. Get another trade that you at least like. So the agents of industry never have you by the throat. You have to go to work anyway so you might as well have the job that pays well. I never went through the starving artist phase. I went through a starving student phase. So when I finally did pursue the artist endeavor I did it with a job I also like that contracts for 100K a year and four month vacations in Europe. That's how you go through being a starving artist. You don't starve at all. Hope this helps someone---Charles